The Experience at Koele Golf Course

Island of Lanai, Hawaii
Part 2

by Ed Stone

• America's Best Resorts: "Gold & Silver Medal Resort Awards" Silver Medalist (2002) - Golf Magazine
• " Top 75 Golf Resorts in America, #7 (2002) - (tied with the Manele Bay Hotel)
• Top 10 Hawaiian Resorts," #1 (2002) - (tied with the Manele Bay Hotel) - Golf Digest
  " 6th Annual Golf Poll, Top 50 Golf Resorts in North America & the Caribbean" (2001) - Overall, #4
• " Speed of Play, #1
• " Condé Nast Traveler named the Lodge at Koele "One of the Best Places in the World to Stay"

Furthermore, the June 2003 issue of Conde Nast Travelers' annual readers' survey of the "Top 100 Golf Resorts in the World" ranked The Lodge at Koele as the #1 in the World.

"The Experience at Koele" is indeed…an experience! These links deserve their name. Employees at "The Experience" are anxious for your golf experience to begin with the right attitude. Upon checking in at the beautifully designed and appointed clubhouse, the affable golf professional, Brendan Moynahan, and other staff members meet you with an aloha smile. Brendan's family moved to Oahu in 1916 from the state of Oregon where his father was a metal worker. He played on the golf team in junior college and graduated from the University of San Francisco in 1991 with a major in business and marketing. Prior to coming to Koele, Brendan was the golf pro at Kapalua on Maui from 1991 to 1998.

Brendan enjoys telling the story of Greg Norman, the course designer of The Experience, and Jack Nickalus, designer of The Challenge at Manele Bay, playing an exhibition match on The Experience in 1994. When the two famous golfing greats came to number 17, the signature hole, they thought nothing of hitting a driver and a wedge to the green. This challenging hole is nestled in the deepest and most scenic gorge on the Island of Lanai. It is a 442-yard par 4 presenting a spectacular 250-foot drop in elevation from tee to green. The green is guarded to the right by a 70-foot sentinel eucalyptus, meaning you should play your drive to the left. Mr. Nickalus drives his first shot in the lake on the right side of the fairway. Then, he proceeded to repeat this shot five more times. He made a score of 17 on the hole. This made me feel much better when I put my first shot in the drink and my second shot in the sand trap located between the fairway and lake. The six I turned in on my scorecard…I'll take it!

The course architect is Ted Robinson who has been involved with Hawaiian courses such as Kapolei, Waikele Golf Club and Ko'Olina on the Island of Oahu. The Experience at Koele is built on 163 acres, leaving untouched as much of the island's flora as possible. The front nine plays through ravines of Norfolk Pine, koa and eucalyptus trees. Mr. Robinson's trademark features water. Believe me, water is everywhere; seven lakes, flowing streams with cascading waterfalls, and one green, Number 8 is completely surrounded by a lake. The first seven holes of the back nine meander across high country at an altitude of 2,000 feet. As noted earlier, the "signature hole," Number 17, plays from a 250-foot elevated tee to a fairway bordered by a lake along its right side, and trees and dense shrubs along its left.

The yardage from the tournament tees is 7,014 yards, while the resort tees play to 6,217 yards and the forward tees are 5,425 yards. To see a complete description of each hole, check out the slope/course rating and prevailing rates, go to The Experience at Koele website.

Click on selected photos for expanded view.

 

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Images copryrighted CGA